Is this because it’s a last minute design change of just the port, but they opted to also change out the USB controller on the pros?
Or is this their new “16gb vs 128gb” upsell strategy?
It’s to force people to pay for iCloud storage rather than keep files locally on their PC. That, and nothing else. No other phone in this price range still has USB 2.0, and most haven’t for a very long time.
I don’t know any Apple users who actually use the cable. iCloud is effortless.
I don’t think it’s so much to force people to pay for storage insomuch as only people shooting 4k 60 long videos or people with very poor internet actually plug in to transfer data.
I would hate plugging my phone into my computer even if it were instant.
They may have had a contract for a certain number of chips for lightning and they’re using them in the lower iPhones instead of taking a loss.
They also may simply not have had enough supply of chips for the newer iPhones
Based on the presentation it seems like the USB3 controller is on-die for the A17 pro bionic chip. So rather than re-engineer the chip for the A16 they’ve shipped it on the cheap, they could add an external controller or re-engineer the die.
I’d bet next year all iphone models are USB3.